Math 100L: Lesson 3
Flashcard
Vocabulary
Appointment 1: Requesting an Explanation;
Fractions
Read the following information to your Speaking Partner.
When taking college courses, you will learn ideas and
information that are new to you. As you take this math course
in English, perhaps there will be problems and concepts that
you don’t understand. You will need to ask for an
explanation. You can use the following phrases as you work
with your instructor, Speaking Partner, and classmates to
request understanding.
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Why?
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What is the reason for that?
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How do you do that?
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Can you please explain that to me?
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Would you mind explaining that?
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Excuse me, but why is that?
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I don’t understand that.
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It isn’t clear to me.
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I don’t get it.
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principle (n)
specifically (adv)
to occur (v)
to transform (v)
issue (n)
process (n)
to identify (v)
complex (adj)
version (n)
to communicate (v)
currency (n)
to denote (v)
to require (v)
to establish (v)
Helpful Vocabulary
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worried (adj)
to translate (v)
bunch (n)
to bother (v)
genetic code (n)
recipe (n)
digression (n)
to steal (v)
slick (adj)
Discussion Questions
1. Are you familiar with the Excel program that you learned about in Week 2?
2. What is Excel?
Microsoft Excel is a spreadsheet program that allows one to enter numerical values or data into the
rows or columns of a spreadsheet, and to use these numerical entries for such things as
calculations, graphs, and statistical analysis.
3. Is the above explanation clear?
4. Using the phrases above ask your Speaking Partner questions about this description of Excel.
5. What phrases requesting explanations are you comfortable using?
6. What phrases does your Speaking Partner use most often when asking for an explanation of new
material, or expressing lack of understanding?
Fraction Practice
This week you will be learning how to add, subtract, multiply, and divide fractions. It is important that you
are able to follow the steps in English using the correct math terms. Have your tutor do the following
problems out loud so you can hear how the fractions are pronounced. Use the phrases above to ask for
explanations if you do not understand the problem.
45 1/2
+ 5 1/2
31 1/2
- 9 1/4
Now it’s your turn. Do the following problems out loud to practice fractions.
36 3/4
+ 17 1/4
43 3/4
- 24 1/4
Pronunciation Practice
Practice your numbers in English.
1/4 = one-fourth or one quarter
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1/3 = one-third or a third
1/2 = one-half or a half
2/3 = two-thirds
3/4 = three-fourths or three quarters
7 3/8 = seven and three-eighths
33/4 = thirty-three fourths
9 5/6 = nine and five-sixths
5/18 = five-eighteenths
19/40 = nineteen-fortieths
How do you say these fractions?
Example: 1/2 = a half or one half
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2 1/4
9 3/4
4 1/3
23 4/5
19 1/6
13 1/2
7 7/8
56/80
Appointment 2: Test-Taking Strategies; Unit Conversions
Read the following information to your Speaking Partner.
A Visual Chart is one page of notes and examples to help you in studying for a test. It represents what
you have produced as a student and will be allowed on the final exam. For this course, you will make four
visual charts: a decimals chart, a fractions chart, a linear equations chart, and a lines and graphs chart.
They will include examples and processes for solving equations, and will be filled with your examples of
the math problems that help you remember the material. Divide up one side of one paper into sections. In
each section write down the most important information from the book. Include notes, examples, difficult
problems, and anything that will help you do well on the exam.
Brother Baird has said that a visual chart is really just a kind of “cheat sheet” that allows your brain to form
a mental picture of the information. It is a way to trick your brain into remembering the information when
the books are not around. It is a little trick to use in case you are scared of taking a test. When you put
this information in the boxes on the paper, your mind makes a mental picture of all the information. Your
brain has done something called “spatial referencing,” where it has taken a picture of something that is
important. When you don’t remember all the information, that picture jogs your memory and you
remember the images on the piece of paper.
Discussion Questions
1. Use the questions and phrases you discussed earlier this week to ask for an explanation when you
need greater understanding of material.
2. What does this phrase mean: “It represents what you have produced as a student”?
3.
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What does Brother Baird mean by a “cheat sheet”?
Do you understand the phrase “spatial referencing”?
Do you get nervous before taking a test?
How can a visual chart help you personally in this course?
Unit Conversions
This means changing one unit of something into a different kind of unit. Do the following problems out
loud with your Speaking Partner.
You want to buy bananas at the store and they cost $0.60 a pound. How much would it cost to buy 10
pounds of bananas?
It is helpful to know how to do unit conversions when learning a new language because there are different
systems of measurement, different kinds of money, etc., between countries. Here are some useful
conversion formulas in measurements from the US standard system to the metric system.
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To convert from miles to kilometers, multiply the number of miles by 1.62
Example: 100 mi x 1.62 = 162 km
To convert from kilometers to miles, multiply the number of kilometers by 0.62.
Example: 200 km x 0.62 = 124 mi
To convert from gallons to liters, multiply the number of gallons by 3.64
Example: 2 gal x 3.64 = 7.28 L
To convert from liters to gallons, multiply the number of liters by 0.27
Example: 4 L x 0.27 = 1.1 gal
If you drive and buy gas for your car in the United States, you will see miles and gallons used to
determine distances and amounts. Do the following problem out loud with your Speaking Partner.
If you buy 10 gallons of gas for your car, how many liters of gas are you buying?
Pronunciation Practice
Teen vs. Tens
In the numbers 13 to 19, stress the “teen” ending. For 20, 30, 40, etc., to 90, stress the first syllable only.
Listen to your Speaking Partner say the following words. Then practice saying the words several times.
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Thirteen, Thirty
Fourteen, Forty
Fifteen, Fifty
Sixteen, Sixty
Seventeen, Seventy
Eighteen, Eighty
Nineteen, Ninety